diff --git a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-http-curl.php b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-http-curl.php
index 64ff7efb834a..c4505f2e6198 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-http-curl.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-http-curl.php
@@ -256,7 +256,8 @@ public function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
 		}
 
 		curl_exec( $handle );
-		$theHeaders          = WP_Http::processHeaders( $this->headers, $url );
+
+		$processed_headers   = WP_Http::processHeaders( $this->headers, $url );
 		$theBody             = $this->body;
 		$bytes_written_total = $this->bytes_written_total;
 
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@ public function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
 		$curl_error = curl_errno( $handle );
 
 		// If an error occurred, or, no response.
-		if ( $curl_error || ( 0 == strlen( $theBody ) && empty( $theHeaders['headers'] ) ) ) {
+		if ( $curl_error || ( 0 == strlen( $theBody ) && empty( $processed_headers['headers'] ) ) ) {
 			if ( CURLE_WRITE_ERROR /* 23 */ == $curl_error ) {
 				if ( ! $this->max_body_length || $this->max_body_length != $bytes_written_total ) {
 					if ( $parsed_args['stream'] ) {
@@ -299,10 +300,10 @@ public function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
 		}
 
 		$response = array(
-			'headers'  => $theHeaders['headers'],
+			'headers'  => $processed_headers['headers'],
 			'body'     => null,
-			'response' => $theHeaders['response'],
-			'cookies'  => $theHeaders['cookies'],
+			'response' => $processed_headers['response'],
+			'cookies'  => $processed_headers['cookies'],
 			'filename' => $parsed_args['filename'],
 		);
 
@@ -312,7 +313,9 @@ public function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
 			return $redirect_response;
 		}
 
-		if ( true === $parsed_args['decompress'] && true === WP_Http_Encoding::should_decode( $theHeaders['headers'] ) ) {
+		if ( true === $parsed_args['decompress']
+			&& true === WP_Http_Encoding::should_decode( $processed_headers['headers'] )
+		) {
 			$theBody = WP_Http_Encoding::decompress( $theBody );
 		}